The Starting Point in Hoenn
by sapphiregem1
Summary: If there was an apocalypse in the real world and you were transported to any world, what world would that be? For June- she would be in the pokemon. Few months later, she finds herself in a town somewhere in the Hoenn region. Now that she was in the pokemon world, would she be able to adjust to this new world? ( revised version of A Traveler's journey).
1. prologue: run

**A/N:  
**

**I love the pokemon series, both dubbed and raw version ( but I think the RAW version is better) and I will to try keep the characters in character of their personality ( especially using the jap version of the show that might have eng subtitle.)**

** This story takes place a year before Ash started his Pokemon journey in the kanto region. Although the story was originally based on the game Pokemon Emerald, it still has some reference to the TV series. **

**In its second (or third revision), the story follows the main character's struggle of adapting to this strange world after being transported from the real world. Even though this person knows the Pokemon series by heart and played the game, is the "reality" of the Pokemon world similar to the show or is there a much darker situation beneath the surface. Few of the characters will be slightly altered to fit the story.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon or the tv series. June and many other characters are OC.**

**Hope you enjoy the story. :)**

_Run... that was the only word that raced through my mind._

The cold gust of wind blew across my face, whipping my hair back and forth as Rose and I turned left onto a deserted street. Like every other street in old Everglade, all the vivid colors faded over the course of the invasion. The laughter of the previous residents still echoed in these abandoned streets -a reminder of times before the war. The Honda accords and the Toyota camrys collected dust and spider webs inside -especially in the driver seat- as they parked idly on the side road, waiting for someone to drive them again. As we ran past the dilapidated houses, now shadows of the distant past, we could smell the stench of death lingered in the air and see the blood of the deceased stained the asphalt road in black crimson. My feet felt numb as we ran; the blood seeped through the holes of my shoes and into the fibers of my socks.

Rose looked over her shoulder. "They're coming!" she shouted. "They're coming."

I spared a quick glance over my shoulders. Sure enough, in the midst of the grey barren landscape, rows of soldiers marched towards us with their weapons at hand. Military tanks slowly crept up alongside them as they fired rapid rounds of bullets at us. I dared to look back a second time, trying to identify our mystery attackers. In the midst of the chase, the only thing I could identify was the red letter R etched on the front of their black uniforms.

_ Why? Why are they chasing us? What do they want with us?_

Suddenly, I was shot in the leg twice; both bullets hit the tibia bone. It felt like someone had just stabbed my leg with a hot poker. I tumbled onto the ground, scratching my knees on the cold pavement. My leg was throbbing in pain and was covered in the red sticky liquid. There was a lot of blood oozing out of the wound; moving it would only make it worse. Rose had ran ahead of me when I was shot; but when she noticed that I was not beside her, she turned around and ran back towards me.

_ What is she doing?!_ I thought. _She has to keep running away from them._

"Go!" I shouted, but she continued heading towards me. She kneeled on the ground as she pulled out some gauze from the bag strapped around her waist, roughly bandaging the wound.

"Don't be stupid June," she scolded me. "We're family... C'mon, we are almost there. You said so yourself." I had to smile when she mentioned the close proximity of our location. We were so close, the chance of being reunited with our family was just steps away, yet we still had a long distance to go.

The soldiers were rapidly catching up and more bullets were shooting in our direction. After she finished bandaging the wound, I leaned on her shoulder as we traveled to our destination at an agonizingly slow pace. A bullet struck Rose on the shoulder and another grazed her on the left side of her abdomen. She winced at the burning pain tearing through her flesh, but she looked at me, with a strained smile on her face. Even without the injury, it took a considerable amount of her strength to support me. Then another bullet shot her in the leg. Both of us tumbled onto the ground, practically on top of each other as our arms flung outwards in a vain attempt to minimize the impact. Our clothes were now covered in the warm blood seeping from our wounds and the ashes from the charred houses.

Rose caught her breath for a moment before she attempted to help me up again. She grimaced at the new pain in her leg. I looked at her and then I glanced at her injuries; she was not going make it at this rate. I clenched my fist tightly until my nails dug deep into my skin. This was my fault we were in this situation; if I had not gone out that morning, the invaders would have not discovered our hiding spot. Our friends would still be alive right now. At this point, it did not matter if I reached the portal or not, all that mattered was that Rose survives. This would be my way repaying her for all the bad things I allowed them to do to her since the start of the war.

Her words slurred as she spoke. "We can still make it June...We...just...need...to take... our time." She had my arm on her shoulder when I shook my head; there was no point trying if the result was going to be the same. She shook her head, refusing to leave me behind. "Don't give up, we can still make it. We just have to keep running." She said in desperation. Rose's words did not fool me; she knew what I was planning and knew what it meant, but it seemed that it was the only way for one of us to get out of here alive.

"I'm slowing us down. C'mon Ro, you know that everyone is waiting for us, but you have to get there first."

"We're family... we promised each other we'll get there. You said so yourself." She repeated the same phrase to me desperately as if it was her mantra. There was a look of fear and hesitation in her eyes; something I have seen since the enemy arrived. Too many friends had died during the aftermath. She did not want to lose another person close to her; but if she was to live, one of us had to stay left behind.

Slowly, I placed my hand over Rose's wounded shoulder, but she backed away once my hand brushed over the wound. She shook her head. "Stop," she said. "Don't burden yourself with my pain."

"Tell that to the girl who can revive dead plants. This is the only way to heal you. This is the only way one of us can survive." I retorted back, healing the wound and ignoring her protests about it.

As I healed her leg, she looked at me with hatred in her eyes -similar to the time when the enemy first came into this world, destroyed it, and hunted us natives down like animals Since the war with the invaders, no one was ever the same. Most of the natives had gained abilities: some of those abilities were gifts but some were more like curses. Both sides sought these 'special people' -Rose and I being a few of them. We had seen both the allies and the invaders use these 'special people' to murder the opposing side. We don't want to be treated like weapons, nor did we want to see more bloodshed. We ran away from the enemy for far too long; it was now my turn to fight - for our freedom.

After healing Rose's wounds, I felt her pain flow through my body. The ability I have was a curse; I can heal others -relieve them of their pain, but not my own pain. I take their suffering onto myself instead, feeling their physical and mental pain.

I lifted myself from the ground, starting to feel the effect of the blood loss. My leg throbbed in pain from the injury and more blood oozed out. Unzipping my purple handbag, I pulled a mini bottle from my bag.

"Besides," I said. "The soldiers will catch us soon Rose... Remember why our friends stayed behind. Don't let their sacrifice be in vain."

This struck a chord for Rose; our friends were our new family and protected us from the enemy, but now they were gone. After a long pause, she ran a couple of feet ahead. I watched her run pass the first few houses, until she paused again turning back to face me with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She hastily wiped them away, trying to withhold her tears.

_ Now what is she doing?! She has to leave now!_

"You better come back alive!" she shouted, cupping her hands so that her voice could carry farther.

"Of course!" I saluted her in military fashion, except with two fingers. It was my trademark: my way of saying 'see you next time', without the actual words, because I knew that there won't be a next time. Rose nodded and ran toward our original destination without another glance back.

With the enemy rapidly approaching, I grabbed a bottle and shook it until the liquid fizzed before tossing it in their direction. One of the soldiers shot the bottle in reaction, unaware of the liquid's acidity. Screams echoed on the street as the acid rained down on the opponents. I ran ahead -in a different direction from Rose- before I could watch the corrosive effect on them, trying to draw them away.

The water in this region was more acidic than normal. During the war, the enemy dropped bombs onto many cities, destroying the lives of thousands of people. The radiation from the bombs eventually seeped into our main water source, which rendered the water undrinkable unless boiled at a certain temperature. However, heating the water above their new 'boiling point' would cause the water to explode. Even when cooled, the acidic liquid has the ability to melt metal.

I looked past my shoulder, trying to see the status of the approaching army, still limping away as quickly as I could. More soldiers moved to the front line, while the injured soldiers were forcefully pushed to the back line. However, they were still heading in Rose's direction. I had to divert them away from her; it was fine if they caught me as long as one of us made it to the other side. Rose had to make it there; for all of us!

With the little inventory I had -and one of my few bottles already used- I decided that it was time to make my stand, to see if they would realize the monster that they had become.

I hid behind the remains of a nearby house, trying to regain my breath. When I peeked over a broken beam, I saw something startling. In the front line, one soldier wore a metallic armor that concealed the vital points. Unlike the other soldiers, this soldier levitated slightly off the ground. The visor from his helmet concealed his identity. The locals called this soldier the Reaper: he 'reaped' the souls of the dead and used its soul as his own power. It was also rumored that he wasn't human, but rather another being from another place.

_ Dang it... what's it doing here... it wasn't supposed to be here..._

A few days ago, I heard rumors about the Reaper's most recent victims: a refugee camp in another region. It killed all of them with its bare hands. Now it was here, searching for Rose and me. I assumed that it would not show me any mercy -like its other victims. The Reaper's presence may have thrown a curveball in my plan; but I knew that I could not turn back now. I dumped out the bullets from one cartridge and tediously unscrewed half of the bullets to reveal the gunpowder inside. Once I poured the gunpowder into a Ziploc bag, I jumped out of my hiding place and left behind a trail of black powder for them to follow.

One of the soldiers spotted me as I ran away. "Get her!" The soldiers change direction at the command, now chasing after me.

I looked down at the ground and saw that my feet were still touching the ground, which was probably a sign that the Reaper could not use the full extent of its mystical powers in this area. No one knew why creatures like the Reaper were unable to use their 'magical' abilities in certain areas, but some believed it had to do with the strange smog hovering around the decimated parts of the city where the stench of death lingered. If it could use its psychic ability, I would have not been crazy enough to do this plan; there would have been no chance of escape.

I kept on running until I tripped over a rock, landing on the cold hard asphalt. I struggled to stand up again, but my legs felt weaker than they were a few minutes before. The bag still contained some powder, but it would be enough to start a mini explosion. I tossed the bag a few meters from me and watched it land near the trail of black powder. Then I pulled out a mini bottle shook it until the water fizzed and rolled it near the trail of black powder. Finally, I pulled out a cartridge and loaded it into the gun, and waited for the enemy to come.

The trap was set.

_This was it. This is my last stand._

I hummed a song to bring my courage up and lift my spirits as I watched the enemy come towards me. A prisoner taught me this song when Rose and I were in the barracks. He said it was from a play he premiered in before the war started.

_Do you hear the people sing?_

_Singing a song of angry men?_

_It is the music of a people_

_Who will not be slaves again!_

_When the beating of your heart_

_Echoes the beating of the drums_

_There is a life about to start_

_When tomorrow comes!_

As the soldiers arrived, the fear vanquished from my heart. I could clearly see the ugliness, bitterness, and evil in their hearts. All of them pointed their rifles at me. They sneered at me with disgust -I was just trash in their eyes, a rodent they were pleased to kill.

"Any last words," One of them said with disgust. Some of them chuckled at this remark.

_Last words_...I had plenty to say to them jerks. They all needed to hear their sins and the pain they caused.

"Yeah...but why would you bastards care. You bastards who enjoy watching little children cry for their parents, you murderers that find pleasure in separating the children from their mothers. You devils that find enjoyment in others' suffering. You should have died when you came here, not them. Not the mothers you shot in the head when they for their children, or the elderly that you shot because they were weak and ugly. Not them. At least they were innocent at heart. At least they weren't monsters like you."

One of them -a woman- wanted me to stop, but I just ignored her and continued. I would have smacked at her across the face, but I had no strength, just my words. Some did not even flinch when I mentioned their crimes, nor did they cry. Some of them snickered. Then I looked at the Reaper and knew, even with his visor on, that his expression didn't change; he didn't shed a single tear. I had hoped that at least one soldier had regretted their actions, but this only proved that their hearts were black and corrupted.

"You'll never get away with this heinous crime. Heaven will know, the earth will know, and the victims will remember the treachery you caused here; for the past few years, you terrorized the people and poisoned this planet with your greed. Now... it is time to send you back... back to your world." I lifted my gun and aimed it at them.

"She has a gun," a soldier shouted in warning.

I don't know who pulled the trigger first, but I saw them shooting rounds at me. A bullet hit my shoulder and another knocked the wind out of my chest as if a baseball bat hit my chest. However, I still managed to pull the trigger, but not at them. The trigger went off, igniting the bullet and struck the water bottle that rolled aimlessly on the ground. In mere seconds, the area was covered in a flash of blinding white light. The surrounding areas burst into flames, illuminating the barren area with flashes of yellow, orange, and red lights. The force of the blast tossed my ragged body few meters away from the blast site and threw me into a cement wall.

When I collided against the wall, my body jerked violently as the rough wall scratched and bruised my back. My head snapped back at the impact, causing spots to appear in my vision. I glanced around with bleary eyes, the blood loss blurring my vision further. Geez, how did I survive the blast, I wondered as I stared at the strange orange smog looming around. Slivers of rays shone through the thick layer of clouds; I do not recall the last time I saw the sun. It was always dark in Everglade since the invaders came. All I knew was that it was very hard to move around or feel anything at the moment. At least the pain in my chest and legs had disappeared.

As I closed my eyes, I thought I saw a figure standing near my ragged body. This figure was very blue, with black trims around him.

The stranger leaned down and whispered in my ears, ever so softly in a soothing tone that I believed he could erase the burden I felt for the past two years.

"Do you want to be with your cousin? Do you want to see your family again?"

"How... they're gone... and Rose... I am not sure if she reached the portal."

"She did... She is waiting for you to go."

"Geez, she should have gone ahead."

"Do you want a chance to forget all of this? The pain? The memories? Everything?"

I think I said yes because then the next thing I knew, the stranger lifted my lifeless body and whispered into my ear.

"When you wake up, all of this will be a dream, and you will find yourself in a new life in a new town. This place is the place you've always dreamed of... the Pokemon world."

Those were the last words I heard before I finally succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

A shout out to Lightning515 for helping me with my description and to the others who helped edit previous version of this story.

NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE ON HOLD


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: _italics:_ thought bubble

enjoy the story

* * *

_ I was only 15 when the man whispered a promise of a better life into my ears. I didn't think I would remember those memories or even hear the man's voice __ever again __once I arrived in the new world…...except that… _

_ A few weeks later…_

The weather outside was warm when I woke up, frightened. I found myself in the dark, where threatening-looking shadows and occasional sounds made me wary of my surroundings. I couldn't see anything in the pitch black darkness, making me wonder where I was.

_ Was I still in Everglade_?

I noticed a glimmer of light appearing from the depths of the darkness. Warily, I looked around the area again, shadows forming into recognizable objects as I waited for my eyes to adjust. My hands brushed against the hard bumpy surface of a wall before continuing its exploration to touch a surface that was soft and warm yet damp to the I heard footsteps coming nearby and immediately took cover under the bedcover. Adrenaline coursed through my body as thoughts raced through my head:

_ Are the soldiers coming for me_?!

But the footsteps never headed toward my direction and instead headed off in the other direction, away from my current location. Once the sound disappeared, I tossed the covers aside. My breath came out in short pants, filling my lungs with much needed air to ease my thudding heart.

As my eyes finished adjusting to the darkness, I realized that I was in the top bunk of my bed -nowhere near where I thought I was- and that moment only a dream, a memory, constantly replaying over and over again. The menacing screams of the invaders echoed in my mind and I could still feel the flickering flames of the fire burn against my skin. I gripped my shirt tightly, remembering the burning feeling of being... _shot_.

I pulled out my cell phone from under the pillow to check the time, sighing softly when I found out it was only 6:00. I heard a groan and jumped, startled. When I finally mustered up the courage, I turned to see that it was coming from my younger cousin Ruby, and let out a sigh of relief while mentally slapping myself at my stupidity. When you live in a small household and share it with a large family, there is limited freedom for one's self, especially when you have to share a cramped bunk bed with one little cousin.

Just then I heard Rose's voice from the bottom bunk. " Nightmare again?" she whispered questioningly.

"Yep.. same one," I answered back just as quietly, not wanting to wake up any of my cousins. I leaned over on the guard railing of the bunk bed, squinting in the darkness to see Rose lying in bed, wide awake. She had a worried expression on her face, which was understandable since she could probably hear every movement I made. Her brown eyes stared up at the mattress on the top part of the bunk bed. Our younger cousin Sal was asleep next to her, clutching her stuffed pokémon doll that resembled a wailord so tightly that if it was alive it would have suffocated.

" Hey June," she said, not noticing that I was watching her from the top bunk. "Did we leave someone behind?"

"I don't know..." I answered, uncertain about how to answer after the nightmare I just had.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Cause I've been having a feeling that we left someone behind for a while now..."

Just then, Ruby kicked me in the leg. In her sleep. _Again. _I sighed softly, remembering the days when I had my own bed. "Wish I was back at home."

"Home..." Rose answered in a wistful tone. She turned in my direction and, noticing that I was there, grabbed one of her pillow and tossed up at me. I ducked my head back behind the bed at the last second as the pillow flew past my face and landed on the ground. If I moved out of the way a second sooner, the pillow would have hit its target and I would have fallen off the top bunk. She started talking about how she was tired of hearing my complaints about our living conditions and the things I used to do back at home. "We don't live there anymore. _We live __**here**_... in this fricken small house in this stupid city," she growled angrily. I peeked back over the rail to see Ruby sitting up, her hands clenched in tight fists in her anger.

Luckily for us, she did not wake up the whole household; our cousins were still fast asleep next to us. I didn't understand why she was suddenly mad at me; I was only voicing my thoughts aloud. Then again, a lot of things had happened in the past couple of months: waking up in the middle of the forest and finding out that we were transferred to the Pokemon world. I still sometimes think I'm in a dream, but the daily pinching and constant reality checks convinced me otherwise.

I remember an elderly gentleman with amber eyes leading Rose and me to Hujing, where we were reunited with our family. Our family was relieved, especially my mom, that we made it to them safely, and ecstatic that we were finally reunited after so long. However, Rose and I felt differently, having many questions about what had transpired during our separation. Rose and I noticed that some of the relatives were not living in the same house as them, including Rose's direct family . The adults explained that they were living in the different part of the city, but provided no further explanations. When we asked again, they dismissed the question altogether. Even though we were reunited with the family, Rose and I still felt like strangers, unaccustomed to the city we were now supposed to call home and puzzled by our family's tendency to keep secrets from us.

A few minutes passed since Rose's angry outburst. Worried about whether Rose was alright or not, I crawled over to the side of the bed,climbed down the ladder ,and sat on the cold floor next to her so that we could talk face to face. As I scooted toward her, Rose shifted her body so that it faced the opposite direction, toward the wall.

"... Do you want to talk about it?" I asked her.

But Rose continued ignoring me as if I wasn't there; this was going to be trickier than I originally thought."Hey Rose, do you you remember the game we used to play at grandpa's house, Sister Sister?" I asked her.

"... I was the younger sister and you were the older sister," she replied quietly. "You never let me be the older sister."

I laughed as I remembered that last detail. I glanced over at the other younger cousins, Dien and Jack, who were still sound asleep despite our quiet chatter. Both of us remember funny stories about our cousins: the time when Dien liked the same things as Rose when he was younger and the time when Rose's younger brother Bryce was Jack's 'tail', a word we used whenever the younger cousin was going through a phase of following their favorite older cousin around. As we discussed these events, I reminded her that she also used to follow me around when she was younger.

We laughed as we recalled those times, times of peace when we could enjoy ourselves and not have a care in the world. After a few minutes, the laughter died down and silence replaced it. I could not recall the last time we laughed this hard. Rose remarked it was always the kids laughing and smiling in the house; she could not recall the last time Grandpa smiled or laughed. Even I could not recall a time when my parents smiled. Of course, they were always off at work or doing something outside of the house. Even though we were away from the danger and safe in this world, things still haven't returned to normal.

Rose apologized for yelling at me, a guilty expression on her face. "It's just that it has been a while since we were back home, our _real _home. Do you think we can ever go home?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I wished I knew." I glanced at the empty space on the mattress where our cousin Cera slept on, recalling that it was Kat's space in the room.

_ Wish Kat was here, she would know how to answer the question._

Kat (short for Kathy) was my older sister by two years. Since Rose and my arrival to Hujing, I have never seen her around the house, let alone at all. The adults don't talk about it; it was a forbidden topic within the family along with the other secrets our family kept from us. Since my sister's disappearance, I have to be the role model for the cousins; but with the amount of pressure coming from both sides, I don't know how to handle the stress. I was glad that I could talk to Rose about it and other things I could not talk about with my parents. Even though, I was three years older than Rose, this age difference didn't stop us from talking to each other casually and without care.

Still, even with Rose here to help me cope with the stress, I wanted to get away from Hujing -far away from here.

Rose then asked me about my headache, snapping me back to reality. She pointed to the white pain-relieving patches on my forehead. I reassured her, telling her that my headache had disappeared as I pulled the bandage off my forehead. The smell of Asian medicine lingered on my fingers. My head felt sore from pulling off the bandage but the headache was not as bad as before.

"Why were you arguing with your mom?". She asked,still puzzled about what happened earlier in the day. "I heard your mom crying in the restroom."

I stared at her in disbelief; I couldn't believe Rose eavesdropped on the argument. It was none of her business; but whenever something happens, the whole family is _always_ involved. There was no point hiding it.

"Same argument. "

Rose nodded her head, understanding what I meant. She asked me whether I still plan to go back to school; the adults having already sent the younger cousins into elementary school already.

"I don't know..." I answered with hesitation. "I don't want to disappoint my parents ... but I also want to see what is beyond the gate."

"If you want to go then go," she said simply. "Don't make it so hard on yourself. But... Do you still plan to go to school?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know at this point."

Rose got out of bed and went to get a glass of water, needing some fresh air. I was surprised that she was getting up and reminded her of the morning curfew: no lights on before 7 AM. Rose shrugged her shoulders before answering, "I don't remember those weird rules anyways." She opened and shut the door behind her without making a single sound.

I sat there on the floor, still thinking about her words and my mom's words. I wish I had Rose's mindset: be direct and not have any concerns about others' opinions, but I am not like that. I think about everyone's opinions, no matter how much it disagrees with mine. My memory of the argument still repeated in my head and the last words my mom said to me before I slammed the door in her face echoed, as if on loop on my music player. "The journey will always be there...it's a waste of time... Please... Think of your future first...

_ But I didn't want to be stuck here or at school... I just want to get out of here._

Also wanting some fresh air to clear my mind, I got up and opened the window, feeling a cool breeze brush against my face. It blew into the room, allowing the heat to escape and filling the room with cool, refreshing air. I looked out my window and gazed out into the city that my family was currently residing in.

_ A few months have passed since I started staying in this city, and yet I haven't adjusted to its laws or the structure of its society as well as my other relatives._

The local high school was only a few blocks from the townhouse and the iconic twin skyscrapers towered over the city. Only the dignified and powerful leaders resided there, looking down at the mere humans beneath them. Shops were scattered everywhere, around the school and the local companies in the city. For a moment, it felt like home. But then in the distance, few blinking lights from the surrounding gates near the border of the town were reminders of where I was. I wasn't back in California -I was in Hujing.

The city of Hujing is located in the southern part of the Hoenn region, only a few miles away from Littleroot Town. Hujing's residents were residents from our world who were transported to this world. No one knows how it happened or why it happen. The general theory around the city is that the government from the old world were experiment with alien technology and it randomly hit civilians, transporting them to different worlds. For some of the residents, including some of my family members, we were transported to the pokémon world. Created by the first people who arrived to the pokémon world, the city provided refugees -like my family- a place to stay and a job to help ease the transition into our new life. However, its existence remained hidden from the outside world, the Pokemon World. There are still many people from the other side coming to Hujing at different times, but not a lot like before. Gates surrounded the area, separate the city from the outside world and prevent outsiders, whether strangers or fellow immigrant from the other world, from entering the city. The city rarely has visitors from the outside world enter its domain. Few of the residents rarely ventured out of the town, in fear of being contaminated by the outside world. The elders warned new residents of the dangers lurking in the shadows, effectively scaring people from leaving Hujing. The surrounding fences and the restrictions were a part of the elders' plan to preserve what was left of our culture and beliefs from the old world.

I look out the window and notice a flock of swablu and altaria flying nearby the town, but still on the outskirts of Hujing. It was still hard to believe that I really was transferred to the Pokemon World.

I sneezed suddenly, shivering as the cold breeze blew against my bare skin. I was only wearing a T-shirt and a pair of shorts; it was supposed to be a warm summer night. My shirt felt damp -from sweat- as well, so I walked over to the closet and changed into a clean T-shirt and shorts, then grabbed a sweater before my mother lectures me about not dressing warmly _again _the next morning. After I finished changing into some dry clothes, I looked at myself in the mirror. My pale skin was now tanned and my black hair was slightly brown under the Hoenn sun. Even though my appearance changed, I still looked like a 13 year old girl.

I turned around and tossed my wet clothes in the hamper and the next thing I knew, I saw the reaper's reflection in the mirror from the corner of my eyes. It looked like the same one from my dream, wearing a helmet with a dark visor covering its eyes and metallic armor covering parts of its body, except its armor darkened from soot and grime. The soldier stared at me with a piercing glance. "Traitor," it whispered, and a psychic aura could be seen around it. When I saw that familiar psychic aura, I ran out of the room and slammed the door shut behind me. I gasped for air, not caring whether the whole household woke up from my loud actions. I gripped my shirt tightly as I once again was overwhelmed with the feeling of being shot. Strange that even now, the feeling of death never disappeared.

A voice startled me out of my thoughts and I jumped back in fright, only to notice that it was just Rose, having gotten her glass of water and was heading back to the room. "You look like you saw a ghost..." said Rose as she walked over to where I stood and gently placed a hand on my shoulder in comfort. "You ok?"

"Yeah... I think... I'm ok..." I took a deep breath to calm my rattled nerves -for the nth time that night- before continuing. "What's up?"

Rose shrugged her shoulders as she replied, "Lately, I've been having similar nightmares like yours: running away from a group of soldiers, the abandoned streets, and the soldier with the black visor. What if it really happened?"

I teased her about her theory, reminding her that we were transported to the Pokemon World . "You're just imagining things. Besides, who would have the ability to give everyone in this city memories of events that never happened and decide which person could remember the _supposed _war?"

Rose did not answer, still thinking about how to prove that her theory was correct. "C'mon," I said, "Let's go out and hopefully takes your mind off things. We thought about these types of things for long enough already. "

Quietly, Rose and I walked down the spiral stairway that led from the bedroom floor to the second level, where the kitchen and the study area was. Just as we were going to walk down the next flight of stairs leading to the ground level, where the living room was, when we noticed lights coming from the living room. We paused, noting how unusual it was for this time of night -not to mention the weird rules we have to follow.

We peered from the stairway, careful not to make any noise and alert our family members that we were awake. We found my mom asleep in her rocking chair with the TV still on. The curtains covered the windows, preventing the lights in the living room from escaping. Rose stealthily ran to hide in the kitchen as I walked down the stairs into the living room where my mom was sleeping, shaking her lightly on the shoulder to wake her up. She opened her eyes slowly and smiled at me, asking what time it was. After I told her how late it was, she walked out of the room, heading upstairs to bed. I sighed in relief, glad that I didn't get in trouble for being up so late. After turning off the TV, I noticed a white, slightly-overstuffed envelope laying there in the rocking chair. I opened the envelope in curiosity and found some money, two ID cards that bore Rose and my names, and some letters -handwritten. There were two letters: one letter was two pages long, written on only one side of the pages. The other letter looked quite old, the pages looked mustard-yellow, as if it was exposed to sunlight for a long time. Some of the words on the letter were blackened out, a practice the government did to prevent people being exposed to outside information. Strangely, I recognized the familiars curls on the i's and t's. That was my sister's handwriting, but that was impossible.

_ What is this? Did my mom planned this? _

I skimmed through the contents of my mom's letter. The first half of the letter did not interest me,but the second half caught my interest. Then I began to read the letter that my sister _supposedly _wrote when I heard Rose's voice. She came out of her hiding place and was coming down the stairs. I stuffed my mom's letter, Kat's letter, and the envelope into my sweater pocket.

"Grab your stuff and pack up," I said as I turned to face Rose, a determined look on my face.

Rose looked at me with a surprised look. "Wait, what? Why?"

"We might need it during our walk...to Littleroot Town."

Rose smiled and her eyes gleamed like a child's eyes on Christmas Day. "Alright!" she exclaimed, obviously excited about our journey. " I knew you had the determination to do it. But I did not think you would want to leave now. What changed your mind?"

I turned away, reluctant to give away the true reason for my decision. "Let's just say that I had enough with this place."

With a smile on her face, Rose ran up the stairs, eager to pack and be on our way. She turned around when she noticed that I didn't follow her,not even moved a single inch."C'mon June, let's go before your parents wake up."

Slowly I walked up the stairs, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. This was my chance to leave after all.

...then why do I feel like I would regret it later on?

* * *

Shout out to Lightning515 for helping me edit/write this chapter (and its other version of it)


	3. Chapter 2

It was already 7:30 AM by the time we were at the door outside; packing for our adventure took longer than we expected. Rose spent most of the morning telling me what not to bring after she saw me pack a camera and some medical supplies in my bag. She doubted that we would get sick during the journey, but I was not taking any chances. Even though I took out most of the stuff deemed unnecessary, I still brought two bags.

"Isn't that heavy," she asked me when she saw that I was carrying a backpack and a messenger bag. Rose only carried her backpack with her.

"No...It's not that heavy".

She looked doubtful,but didn't say anything about it. "Alright... if you say so..."

We walked out through the front and quietly closed the front door behind us. After locking the door, I gripped the house keys until my knuckles turned white, trying to build up the courage to leave the keys -and my home- behind. It was still a weird feeling to actually leave this place.

_What if the adults worry about us?_ I glanced at Rose, noticing her puzzled expression. I did not want her to see my hesitation about leaving, despite how much I wanted to; otherwise she would think that I was a coward. She would start questioning what we were doing again and raging over my indecisiveness, which would slow us down.

"Last chance~" I said, trying to sound confident.

"Ready," she said as she nodded without hesitation. I slipped the keys through the mailslot and we walked away from the house without a backward glance.

The sun was barely up in the sky; its rays were peeking out from behind the towering buildings. Both of us walked down the paved street, looking at the empty stores along the way and knowing that we were not sure when we'll be here again. It was eerily quiet on the normal bustling streets: no lively chatter or pedestrians walking around window shopping for food or the latest trend.

"Why are you wearing gloves?" she asked, noticing the black gloves on my hand. The gloves were wrist guards, with a thick plastic covering on the palm and back of the hand, to prevent injury and protect the wrist.

I ignored her question, trying to avoid answering as many questions as possible to avoid wasting the precious time that we needed to escape. Rose caught up, complaining that I was walking too fast. As we were walking, Rose voiced her opinion as to why I was wearing the gloves.

"Pokemon are not going to hurt you," she said. "You're not going to get sick if a poochyena bites you."

"You never know," I said, suggesting the possibility that an event like that could actually happen.

Rose did not argue back, and instead continued following me toward the city gates -our destination.

As we walked through the familiar parts of town, I got a strange feeling that someone was watching us, following us. **Stalking** us. Rose and I ran past a dark alley and I thought I saw a glimpse of a man hidden in the shadows of the alley, his dark blue eyes gazing straight at us. But when I looked back over my shoulder for a second, no one was there.

"Is something wrong?" Rose asked when she noticed that I stopped running.

"No... nothing's wrong," I said, brushing aside Rose's concern. "C'mon, we are almost at the gate."

************  
Eventually we reached the gate. I didn't think we would see the gate again. The last time Rose and I saw it was when the elderly man led us to the city. We only saw the vines that concealed the bars of the iron gate, but never noticed the barbed wire behind the gate. Rose found a loose pebble on the ground, picked it up, tossed it at the barbed wire. To our surprise, the barbed wire crackled with electricity, meaning that touching the barbed wire would lead to a 'shocking' end to our journey.

"Makes you wonder what else the elders are not telling us," Rose wondered. I agreed. A fence keeping outsiders out and insiders in, so to speak. What next?

_Did the elders really need this much protection from the outside world?_

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. This was going to be trickier than I thought. I pulled out my cell phone, checking the time; it was already 7:55. The adults would be awake by now. Wonder if they saw my note on the dining room table. I inwardly sighed; there was no turning back now. Rose and I were already at the gate; freedom was already within our grasp.

Rose looked at me doubtfully after observing the crackling electricity flowing through the metal fences. "How in the world are we going to get over that thing?"

I scanned the area for any ideas of how to escape when I noticed something interesting. Tapping Rose's shoulder to get her attention, I pointed toward the gate, which was conveniently open. We stared at it incredulously before moving -running- toward the open gate. Just then we heard a voice. "Trying to escape, are we."

We turned around, startled, and saw a man walking towards us. The man appeared to be in his mid forties or fifties, with a walking stick clutched firmly in one hand. He didn't look like an official because of his tattered clothes and his messy black-turning-white hair, yet he waved his stick around dangerously, attempting to chase us away like the guards who intimidated onlookers who were too curious about the other side.

We tried to run, but the man had already caught up with us. He interrogated us with many questions, asking why we were there and what we were planning to do. Rose, who was better at lying under pressure, assured him that we were not running away; that we were lost, trying to find our way to the forest because we planned to go on a camping trip. However the man did not believe Rose's story, remarking that the forest was outside the borders of the gate - not inside. He had already heard a multitude of various stories and lies from many others who tried to escape. He grilled us with more questions instead, determined to find the truth. The man stared at us when we continued to refuse to say anything, before bursting out laughing.

This man was definitely strange- one minute he was interrogating us and the next minute he burst out laughing. Rose didn't see it the same way I did, not amused with the man's actions and wondered if he was crazy."Are you alright sir?"

"But of course," the man said and proceeded to introduce himself with an extravagant and exaggerated bow.

He introduce himself as The Trickster: master of trickery, deceit, secrets and also our key to getting out of the city. We were surprised that he knew that we were leaving, especially since it was a last minute plan. He told us that he heard whispers in the underground, but he did not know the exact date and time that we would leave. He helped many others before us leave the cities undetected, usually by leaving the gate open for them. "This dingy city is getting a bit too crowded, wouldn't you say?" he asked, the questions serving as an explanation for his actions.

Rose and I were too shocked to respond; there were actually people like us that have tried to leave the city before and now they were on the other side. He asked us for our destination, wishing to know where we were going before actually letting us pass through the gates. Before Rose could speak, I spoke up.

"We're going to go live with my sister. She lives on the other side of the gate," I said. "She left a year ago, during the time when the government allowed people to venture outside."

The Trickster asked for evidence that this supposed relative existed. As I pulled out the letter from my pocket, Rose pulled me aside asking if this was true. I told her to be quiet and let me do all the talking because this was our only chance to leave.

"I don't trust him," Rose whispered to me. "There is something evil about him."

"We got to play along, otherwise he will send us to the cops." I understood her wariness. The man's dark blue eyes stared at us as if we were his prey, ready to attack when it was time.

Hesitantly, I pulled out the mustard-colored letter and showed it to the man. He snatched it from my hand and briefly read it. To my horror, The Trickster ripped the letter into pieces and proclaimed it to be a fake, The man just laughed maniacally, watching me pick up the pieces of the letter. Then he swooped down and tried to grab the pieces from me, but I held them tight, as if the letter was a rare jewel. Eventually he pulled the pieces away from me and crumpled it into a ball.

As I watched the Trickster rip and crumple the letter as if it was a meaningless sheet of paper, I really wanted to punch this guy, but the Trickster held out his hand as if he was saying 'give me a minute'. Rose and I watched as this man rubbed his hands together, the pieces in between his palms, and then unraveled the rumpled ball, revealing the letter as a whole sheet instead of in pieces. To me, it seemed like he repaired the letter with magic. He showed the restored letter to me as if he was proud with himself for that magical act. "I rather actually enjoyed that," he commented.

_I didn't_. Although I was amazed with his trick, I was not amused with his game. Quickly I snatched the letter from his hand and stuffed it back into my pocket.

The man apologized after seeing our sour expressions, saying that he had been watching the gate for a while and was getting bored. When he saw us at the gate, he wanted to amuse himself. "I didn't mean you any harm," he said.

Rose and I stared at him suspiciously. In my opinion, that was a cruel way to amuse oneself. The trickster commented how the runaways like us were still brave enough to venture outside the gate, even after listening the propaganda spouting out of the elder's mouth. "The outside world is not as dangerous as they claim." He said to us, hinting his dissatisfaction towards the elders. "However, it is not safe as you might think either." When we asked him to explain what he meant when he said that, we got a bunch of riddles as our answer.

The man pulled out his watch, declaring that it was 8:05. He didn't want to keep us waiting, knowing that the guard would be back soon. Even though he wasn't an "official" guard, he can still open the guard who was suppose to watch the gate had handed the Trickster the keys just before he left. At first, I thought it was quite suspicious, to let this man guard while the real guard left, but I didn't pursue it any further. We just wanted to get out of here. Just as we took another step, the man stopped us. Again. He asked us for our papers. "I can't let you out unless you show me your papers."

Rose looked at me, confused by what the strange man was referring to. Even I did not understand what he meant. As I recalled from my mom's letter, there was no mention of needing papers to leave the gate. I assumed he was joking around, so I played along with his game.

"I'm sorry sir," I apologized. "I don't have the paper you're referring too."

"Then I can't let you go," he said with a smirk on his face.

Rose was surprised with the Trickster's change in attitude, "But you said you will help us."

"I didn't say what were my conditions for helping you," he said. "You never asked."

He told us that he made a deal with the guard, and part of the deal was to make sure "the runaways " had their papers with them. Not only did we need these papers to leave for the outside world, these papers were important to the government. The Trickster didn't say why these paper were important to them; he only explained to us that it was part of government records, keeping track of the many "sheep" leaving the city. He could report us to the officials once the real guard comes back, telling him that we tried to leave illegally without our papers.

However, the Trickster told us that he could easily forge our papers for us, if we made a deal with him. "There is a price for this deal," he said. For some reason, judging from the way he said it, I wasn't going to like his deal. As a man of trade he needs something to bargain for to make a living. Those who didn't have their papers, but were still desperate enough to leave the city, traded their most precious item to him in exchange for his silence and their papers.

Rose and I both looked at each other; we had nothing to offer to him. There was the money in the envelope, but there was no way I going to give him that. He could raise the price for our papers, depending on our determination to leave the city. But there was one thing that may be of value, I thought, but it would be hard to part with. I looked up and inwardly gasped. His reptilian blue eyes looked at sharply at us, especially at me as if he knew I had something to offer.

"What's that in your pocket?" he asked, noticing my right hand clenching something in my front pocket tightly.

Slowly, I pulled out the object from my pocket. It was just a crystal tied to blue string.

Rose was surprised by my compliance. "June, isn't that your lucky charm. You said someone gave it to you as a gift."

"I know Rose. This necklace is my only reminder of home. A very good friend of mine gave me this necklace... but this necklace will also give us our freedom."

Rose looked away, pained by my action. I turned away as the greedy hands grabbed the necklace. Then he bit his teeth into the crystal, tasting the value of the crystal like one would do to gold. I inwardly cringed when I saw my precious crystal being treated in such a manner.

I guess the crystal had some value because he stuffed it into his pocket and asked us for our ID. I handed him our id and followed him to his office. I watched him process the papers and filled in the detail based on our information. The Trickster finished processing the papers, holding it tight in his greasy hands as he glanced back between us and at the papers, as if he was checking the accuracy of our information. This is getting ridiculous, I thought as I glanced at the time. We had to leave... NOW. I almost snatched the papers from his hands when he held them away from my grasp.

"First... you have to say... please~" he taunted at me, sticking out his tongue. I was really confused. _**How** was this relevant?_ But Rose didn't care; she begged me to hurry up. We already wasted a lot of time playing with this madman's mind games already. After I had said please, the man had one more thing to say to me.

"You don't look 13," he said. "A bit too old... maybe 15."

Offended by his rude remark, I snatched the papers from the man. Within earshot of the man, I remarked that I was glad that I don't have to pay a debt. The gates opened up, creaking so loudly I thought the whole city could hear. Before it could open all the way, Rose and I ran through the gate and we were on the other side.

Once we were outside, we turned around, trying to see the gates again. To our surprise the gate had disappeared, as if it was never there.

"Guess we can't go back," I remarked slightly upset that I couldn't catch one more fleeting glance of our 'home'. I glanced at Rose and saw the look on her face. Rose wanted to know what was going on. Was that mustard-color paper really Kat's letter? Was it true that she was alive, living on the other side, where we are now? Where did I get the ID and everything else that she didn't see me pack when we were preparing to leave. All personal information, including the ID cards, were always kept in the adults' room. Did I keep all this information from her?

I wish I could answer her questions, but there were some things I did not know to an extent. Unable to answer her questions clearly, I handed her the first part of my mother's letter. Rose grabbed it from my hand and skimmed through the content of the letter, wanting to know what I kept from her despite how close we were. Immediately I saw tears drip from her eyes.

"Oh my gosh... my parents are alive... so are Bryce... and Katie," she said, trying to fight back her tears. "And so is Kat... but why didn't they tell us this?"

"That's how they are..."

"I'm surprised that she let you run off like that... that was nice of her."

"I guess," I said, pretending to agree with her.

My mom was not nice. She was cruel, manipulative and mean. She did this something similar before. Right after an argument, my mom would subtly remark on my faults. Then I apologize for my actions and the world is 'well' again. I was tired of her criticisms and judgement. I just want to get out of there. Every argument we got into, I get consumed with rage and anger, causing me to unintentionally say something that would hurt her feelings. Even though at the time I actually meant what I said, why is it that later, when I think back on it, I would always feel so guilty?

She handed me back the letter and I stuffed it back into my pocket... crumbling it into a ball, still feeling angry at my mom for her controlling ways.

"So...what now," she asked me, still trying to comprehend all this new information she found out. "We can't go back cause the gates disappeared and we don't know where they live."

I shrugged my shoulders. There was only one thing we could do."Off to Littleroot I guess."


End file.
